Sepp Blatter is currently joint third when it comes to length of time on the Fifa throne. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

"If Sepp Blatter manages to hang on to the Fifa presidency until 2015, as he has planned, will he be the longest serving Fifa president?" writes David Eason. "He seems to have been in the job forever."

After some hot administrator chat, eh, David? Well, it takes all sorts. Still, it's about time the Knowledge was sprinkled with a little stardust, sass and sex, so strap yourselves in, here we go ...

Blatter does indeed appear to have been head honcho of Fifa forever and a day, though compared to the 20th century's two big hitters, his stay is but a brief one. Blatter has currently been in the job across 13 calendar years, taking over from João Havelange in 1998, and could end up presiding over a 17-year stint should he see off the challenge to his crown this year of Mohammed Bin Hammam. But that will only see him into third place on our amazing List of Longevity, behind the aforementioned Havelange (24 years) and ... go on, take one guess ...

Yep, you got it in one. Jules Rimet was in the job between 1921 and 1954, a 33-year stint which saw him establish the World Cup. Havelange's 24-year reign is the second longest, during which he ramped up the commercialisation of the tournament in an Olympic-stylee. Blatter is currently on terms with Stanley Rous (1961-74), who presided over the first World Cup in glorious technicolor (Mexico 70), something of an irony when you consider his Little Englander ways led to an African and Asian boycott of the 1966 tournament, and that he would have been quite happy for South Africa to field teams according to the diktats of apartheid.

Daniel Burley Woolfall is next in line, his 12 years in the chair between 1906 and 1918 overshadowed by both war and his garlanded successor Rimet, but he was England's most successful Fifa president, a damn sight more forward thinking than Rous, with the first-ever Olympic tournament in 1908 coming on his watch, the first non-European members elected, and plans for a World Cup scuppered only by world conflict. His countryman, Arthur Drewry, sat in the chair for six years between 1955 and 1961, and ... er ... he's still best known for picking the England team that lost to the USA at the 1950 World Cup, put it that way.

Which leaves us with the stragglers. Robert Guérin was only 28 when he became the first Fifa president at the inaugural congress in 1904, and had just reached 30 when he departed, while Rodolphe Seeldrayers, longtime understudy to Rimet, lasted only one year between 1954 and 1955 before dying on the job. Definitely not worth the wait, that one.

BORDER CONFLICT

"On 7 June, the United States will play Canada at Detroit's Ford Field in a group-stage game of the Gold Cup," wrote Dave Hogg last week. "With the stadium located near the Detroit River, Canada will be playing an away game just 1.1 miles from their own country. When was the last time a major tournament pitted two teams in such a border conflict?"

"I don't have faith my answer is the best way of accurately calculating distances (comparing two maps on Google that have the same 1,000 ft scale), but as I've spent a fair deal of time coming up with these three sentences that constitute my answer I'm going to try my hand at this anyway," begins Tim Dockery, who sounds accurate enough to us. "I reckon that the Defensores del Chaco stadium in Asunción, Paraguay is less than a mile from the Argentinian border. On 9 September 2009, Paraguay beat Argentina in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match at Defensores del Chaco and in the process assured their passage to South Africa."

Kári Tulinius nominates "Kinshasa and Brazzaville, capitals of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Congo-Brazzaville respectively. They are across the Congo river from each other. Their respective national stadiums, Stade des Martyrs of Pentecost and Stade Alphonse Massemba-Débat, are only five and a half miles from each other. The stadium in Brazzaville is the one closer to the border, though at 2.3 miles from the border, it does not threaten Ford Field's claim. However, I'd be surprised if two national teams would have to travel a shorter distance between its national stadiums. However, sadly, I haven't been able to find records of games between the two national teams."

"On 21 August 2002, Italy played a friendly at home to neighbouring Slovenia," recalls Paul Townend in Luxembourg, meanwhile. "The Italian FA unwisely selected Trieste as the venue – a city that Slovenes have an historic claim on as well as their own name: Trst. Stadio Nereo Rocco is about 6km from Slovenia, and you can also actually see Slovenia from there. Crowd trouble was inevitable, much to the surprise of the Italian commentary team who were also ill-informed of local history and Slovenia swept to their first victory over their grander neighbours. The 1-0 Slovenia victory was repeated in a World Cup qualifier in Slovenia in October 2004 and Italy decided to stage the return as far away from their neighbours as possible, securing a 1-0 victory in Palermo."

KITTED OUT (3)

Here's a photo of world number three Lev Aronian at the 2010 Chess Olympiad in Russia," writes Justin Horton. "He's wearing an Athletic Bilbao shirt, though whether he's actually a lifelong supporter, being Armenian, is open to question: he might just have been given the shirt."

"I give you Brendan Cummins, Tipperary hurling goalkeeper," announces Simon Rouse. "He has worn a Manchester United jersey under his Tipperary shirt since 1993. During this time he's won two all-Irelands, three Munster titles and five all-stars (best player in his position in that year). He became the Tipperary player with the most championship appearances of all time, in 2009. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest hurling keepers of his generation."

"Before the Liverpool v Newcastle United FA Cup Final of 1974," begins Malcolm Warburton promisingly, "there was a race of (I think) 3,000 metres in the stadium, featuring several of the country's leading runners. Brendan Foster borrowed a Shaftesbury Harriers black-and-white striped vest (from Dave Bedford) and won the race. It was the only thing the Toon Army had to cheer all afternoon."

"In the boxing world, the kitted-out story that really takes the biscuit is when London lad Anthony Small (a Chelsea fan) fought Tony McDonagh in a defence of his British and Commonwealth light-middleweight title," writes Michael Grace. "He fought McDonagh in Wigan's Ripon centre. Not one to get the fans on side, he decided to wear a Tottenham shirt for his entrance a week after Wigan were tonked 9-1 by them. I think it was late 2009. Small won on points. He deserved it but wasn't the most well-received decision."

THE KNOWLEDGE SPELLING BEE

"Following on from the latest Knowledge and teams finishing in alphabetical order in their league season, what's the longest grammatically correct word that has been formed by teams' initials at the end of the season," asked Hugh McGinley. "For example: Chelsea – Arsenal – Liverpool – Man Utd = CALM."

"Curses on you Hugh McGinley, for hitting my football-trivia G-spot!" pants an on-heat Paul White. "I wasted over an hour looking at all the European league tables for the past 10 years. Surprisingly the only one I could find was CAMEL, from the 2004-2005 Premiership: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton, Liverpool."

CAN YOU HELP?

"What was the first video game or games system to advertise at a football ground?" asks John in Japan. "Off the top of my head I remember seeing the Sega Game Gear being advertised on boards at football grounds but were there more before that?"

"Paul Carden is currently employed as player/assistant manager of Cambridge United. Last month he was loaned to Luton Town for the remainder of the season and played against Cambridge for Luton in the 0-0 draw at the Abbey Stadium. Has there ever been another case of an assistant manager playing against his own club?" asks Del Franklin.

Del is on a roll, because he also posts this poser: "In May 2009 Adam Bartlett was signed on an emergency loan due to regular keeper Danny Potter getting injured. Bartlett's only appearance for Cambridge was in the play-off defeat to Torquay at Wembley. Have any other players played just one game for a club at Wembley?"

"With Sheffield United looking at relegation to the third tier, and Wednesday not looking like promotion candidates at present, next year could see a third-tier Sheffield derby with a possible 39,000 attendance," writes Alex Hannick. "The English record attendance for a third-tier match was the 'boxing day massacre' between the two sides on 26 December 1979. But is this the largest attendance for a third-tier derby/game that has taken place globally?"

And it's Blades this, that and the other today. Your usual host John Ashdown will be beside himself with happiness. "Last weekend, Watford beat Sheffield United with goals by Danny Graham and Martin Taylor," begins Jimbob Baron. "Has there been another instance of two goal scorers surnames combining to make a club's current or former manager, such as Graham Taylor at Watford?"